Flames goalfender Hunter Virostek reflects on his Liberty hockey career

Liberty hockey has posted dominant performances this year. The women’s Division 1 hockey team is still boasting its undrafted streak and the No. 1 position in the nation, and the men’s Division 1 team is following the trend. 

After going into the desert and defeating one of the best teams in the nation — the University of Nevada, Las Vegas — in back-to-back matchups, the Flames are sitting pretty as the No. 2 team in the nation, according to the ACHA rankings. In those two matchups against UNLV, the Flames scored a blistering 11 goals and only allowed four to sneak past their goaltender. And that goaltender, Hunter Virostek, wasn’t good in just those two games. 

Virostek is a senior at Liberty studying business administration, but his true goal won’t be accomplished in the classroom. Like most college athletes, Virostek is targeting a career in professional sports, and not one behind a desk. 

 The Alberta native, however, hasn’t always been the dominant force in the crease that he is today. Virostek started playing hockey at the young age of 4, but it wasn’t until the age of 12 that he found his home protecting the net. 

“Because of my size and the contact going on, I was getting hit a lot,” Hunter said regarding his early hockey career as a player. “I also had sports asthma, so I would get out of breath quite a bit. (Being a player) just stopped being fun. Then I switched to goalie, and it came naturally to me.”

That transition from player to netminder is one that the Flames should certainly be thankful for, as Hunter has become a consistent stalwart for this team. In his last three seasons for the Flames, his save percentage has never dropped below .920 for a season. For perspective, that means on most nights, Hunter saves around 92% of the shots he sees from a given team. This season, Hunter’s save percentage is .923, which, if he were in the NHL with that number, would make him the eighth-best goalie in the league. 

The most incredible part of that statistic, however, is the way that it hasn’t changed in the last three years. In 2020-21, Hunter’s save percentage was .920. In 2021-22, it was .926. And so far this season, Hunter has saved .923% of shots against him. His consistency has been key to the Flames and Head Coach Kirk Handy, who have been able to trust him consistently. However, this hasn’t always been a piece of Hunter’s game. 

“Consistency was never always a thing for me,” he said. “Back in junior hockey, one of my downfalls was inconsistent gameplay. I was trying to be a little too much like someone I’m not. I guess I wasn’t playing my game. What I’ve done in college is try to just hone in on what works for me and then build off of that. Then from there, you just put in the work, and you put in training on and off the ice, and then the games kind of take care of themselves.”

Hunter credits his growth in his consistency in large part to the goalie’s coach for the Flames, Dan Berthiaume. Berthiaume was drafted 60th overall in the NHL draft by the Winnipeg Jets in 1985 and played in the NHL until 1994. He came to Lynchburg and became an assistant coach for this Flames team in 2014 and has been helping Liberty’s goalies ever since. 

“He’s helped me battle to keep the drive going,” Virostek says. “If I’m down, he’s been through it all. He’s played pro, so he knows the ups and downs of (being a) goalie… and he’s able to help me through it and try to keep on top of (my consistency).”

Palsgrove is the assistant sports editor for the Liberty Champion. Follow him on Twitter